Benjamin Hawkes-Lewis, Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:21:42 +0100:
> On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 12:17 AM, Leif Halvard Silli wrote:
>> Heh! That was in fact cool to hear. So all NVDA is lacking is the
>> announcement! Authors could in fact create polyfills for the
>> announcement, e.g. via aria-label or aria-labelledby, so that user can
>> use it.
>
> They could, but not without adversely impacting usability in UA/AT
> combinations that already notify users about longdesc (e.g. Firefox +
> JAWS).
That is true. It would have to be short and pregnant, to not disturb
too much. Thus, users would have *know* the impact of hearing e.g.
"Description link." May be the page could contain a option to *add*
that text to the @alt text - a scripted on/off option. Or just some
information saying: "The sentence 'Description link.' in the
alternative text indicates there is a longdesc link available."
Sidepoint: I have previously argued in favor of <a role=presentation>.
And there are in fact no difference between an img whose longdesc URL
can be activated if the user by accident hits the Enter key - and a
link with role=presentation. It is thus interesting if NVDA developers
think it is OK to not make the user aware that the img has a longdesc
link that the user could trigger by accident.
PS. Come to think about it: May be NVDA halfway supports the
aria-describedby longdesc link as well, then ... ?
>>>> * He also says that 'If we do implement this, it will only be as a
>>>> temporary solution because of the lack of support in current accessible
>>>> browsers'. This is a technical argument. But it sounds like a incorrect
>>>> technical argument. At least today - 2 years later - where we hear that
>>>> Firefox *does* support @longdesc, in the accessibility API - which I
>>>> assume that NVDA would use.
>>>
>>> I think by support James means "discoverable to *all* users, not just
>>> users of assistive technology". So just having a hook in the
>>> accessibility API doesn't count.
>>
>> Yes. But the world is not going to move if we are all waiting on each
>> others.
>
> James may feel that @longdesc is not going to be worth discovering or
> providing if it's not universally discoverable.
Yup. I feel he is not correct there.
> I doubt Firefox is waiting on NVDA here; after all JAWS was exposing
> @longdesc long before NVDA.
I agree - Firefox follows its own track. But if I have understood Jonas
correctly previously, then the support is not new. It is just that they
have 'aria-describedby-ified' their @longdesc implementation a little
bit, lately. If I got it right.
--
leif halvard silli